Hang Out
by Sweetcutsofrelease
Summary: He cared for the child as if he were his blood, acted as a mother and even better than some mothers. He dressed the boy and was teaching him how to tie his shoes. Feed the child and kissed his scrapes and boo-boos. - How they grow so fast - Gaara/Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**Hanging Out**

**Chapter 1:**

Winter seemed to be over. The cold snowy days had been gone for over a week. Sure a few days had a chill to the air. The last few days had even been raining. Today though it was pretty. The sun was hung in the sky with no rain clouds in sight. The grass seemed greener.

It was nice to get out with the baby. Even though Kakashi couldn't be with them. Someone had to keep the income coming in though. Iruka sighed as he inhaled the fresh air. Being trapped inside was horrible. He looked in the stroller and smiled. The baby, which wasn't really a baby he was actually five years old in a month, was sleeping away the nice day.

Since two males can not make a baby this child was not his son. The boy in the stroller was no relation to him at all, he was only a guardian of the child; or in Iruka's eyes the baby. All the same to Iruka though. He cared for the child as if he were his blood, acted as a mother and even better than some mothers. He dressed the boy and was teaching him how to tie his shoes. Feed the child and kissed his scrapes and boo-boos.

Iruka had always wanted a child. Even after he knew he was gay. He had at first thought about how the world would look at a child raised by two men. How that child would look at his fathers when he grew old enough to understand. Now though, he didn't care. He'd show the world two men could raise a child right. This had only occurred to him a month ago though, when he ended up with a child.

Not that children fall from the sky. He was sad about how he had been given this little miracle. He hoped the little boy in the stroller would not remember how it had happened. He infact wished he could forget it. Shaking his head of the thought Iruka smiled as they reached the park.

It was a small park, not a lot to do. A few swings and a slide, a sandbox and a old tire swing. Few other children were here. He knew them though. Sakura and Ino played on the swings. The two girls were racing to swing higher then the other. Sasuke sat at the top of the slide, too scared to slide down but trying to put on a brave face. Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, sat on bench reading. It seemed he was the babysitter for the three. He glanced up and gave a nod as Iruka walked over.

Iruka knew all the kids in the area. It was his job to know them. In a few years they would be seated in his class waiting to learn. Just as Itachi had just a short time ago. "Hello Itachi." Iruka greeted.

"Iruka." Itachi looked towards the kids under his care. "Is he going to join them?"

Iruka looked in the stroller, the eyes of the boy were open and watching something intently. Iruka followed the boys stare to the child in the sandbox. One he had over looked when coming here. He knew the boy, what was his name though? No wonder everyone forgot the boy. He was dressed in clothes to big and with holes all in them, rope seemed to be holding up the boys pants. His unruly hair was dirty as was his whole body. Not the kind of dirty children get from playing in sandbox. He was also not just dressed to play outside. It was the same outfit Iruka saw the boy in each time he laid eyes on the child.

"Are you going to go play?" Itachi asked the child in the stroller. The boy glanced at him and gave a nod. "Sasuke looks like he might need a push down the slide." Itachi looked over to his brother who seemed to be stuck to scared to go down the slide and to scared to go back down the ladder.

"Go ahead and play." Iruka smiled as his baby got up. The smile faded as he headed for the boy in the sand box.

"Better to keep him away from that child." Itachi spoke not looking away from his book.

"He's just a boy. It's not his fault. Blame the parents for not taking care of what was given to them." Iruka frowned. As much as he wanted to shoo the child away, and he really did, he watched the two instead.

"Hi… My names Naruto." The boy looked down at the sand. "Wanna play?"

The other said nothing only sat down and began to sculpt a castle. Naruto watched as it came to shape. The other boy glanced up at him and nodded to the castle.

Naruto blinked, then gave a smile as he started to help. He talked to the boy. The boy with red hair. The boy who had not spoke one word to him, so he couldn't talk with him. The castle was built and looked great, Naruto added a few rocks he had brought from home and took the red headed boys hands to drag him off his butt. "Now lets crush it together!" Naruto laughed and the redhead looked at the castle. "On the count of three?" The redhead gave a nod. "One, … Two, … Three!" Holding one hand of the redheads Naruto jumped as did his redhead sand castle building new friend. They crushed it under there shoes, one pair of nice new shoes and one pair of what once seemed to be shoes and now looked little more that holy leather bound to the boys feet.

Iruka looked at his watch. He needed to get home and start on dinner. "Come on it's time to go!" He called in the boys direction. Both turned to look and both frowned. "Come on, Gaara!" Iruka added and the red head boy turned to the blonde, he shrugged lightly and walked away. Naruto waved and called out that he'd be there tomorrow. Gaara looked back and nodded lightly.

Iruka pushed the stroller as Gaara walked by his side. "Did you have fun today?" He asked the boy at his side. He got a shrug.

Iruka continued to ask questions and continued to get no reply. Gaara hadn't spoken since the morning of the events that lead to him being in Iruka's care. When he was checked by the doctor they found nothing wrong with him. The psychiatrist tried to get him to talk but could not. They had said he'd talk when he wanted too. Being in a traumatic event had that effect on some people.

Iruka opened the door to their house and Gaara went to the bathroom to use it and wash up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hang Out**

**Chapter 2:**

Naruto stretched his body out on the bed, well what he called a bed. A stripped mattress that was stained and dirty. He opened his blue eyes and glanced around, his room was tiny at once it was the laundry room. There was the bed, a small table with alarm clock on it and a pile of clothes. That was all there was. He smiled as he thought about his new friend, Gaara, the boys father had called him. He'd get to play with him today! Naruto jumped out of bed and flopped down on the tilled floor by the pile of clothes, he dug threw it and found his shoes, a pair of socks that didn't smell to bad, an orange shirt that he loved!, and a pair of jeans that were less torn then the others. He dressed and happily walked threw the sheet that was his door.

Naruto peeked into his parents room to find his father and mother both gone. He smiled once more, today seemed to get better and better. Not that he didn't love his parents, but if they were already gone he could sneak out and get some ramen from the nice man down the street before heading back to the park to play with Gaara.

After eating two free plates of ramen he headed to the park, sat in the sand and waited. It was chilly out, dark clouds lined the sky, and no one was at the park besides him. He smiled and started to drawl in the sand. He noticed the sprinkles after a hour or so, but continued to play in the sandbox. He had no watch to tell time. He knew he was getting cold and he knew he was thirsty, he also knew he had to pee.

He didn't want to miss his new friend though. So he waited and waited, then went under the slide to pee. He waited some more drawling in the sand. It was really cold and the rain was coming down hard, but Naruto knew his new friend would show. When the street lights flickered on Naruto stood and made his way home. Gaara would be there tomorrow. He nodded and gave a yawn followed by a coughing fit.

The next three days went the same. Naruto's new friend didn't show and didn't show. Naruto held his ground though and waited all day for each of those days. He was sick, he felt hot and he didn't feel like eating anything. Today was pretty out though. He just knew Gaara would be there. He knew it. So he dragged out of bed and got dressed, checked to see where his parents were and told his mother he loved her while she slept then headed out the door.

Naruto's mother groaned as she woke hearing the front door close. She knew her five year old son had walked out. She knew he left the house everyday to play at the park next door. She knew she should watch him, she knew she should check on him or hire a babysitter. She couldn't though. Both her and her husband worked two jobs to keep their dinky house and try to keep up with bills. It wasn't fair to her son. She knew it, she cried many nights because of it. Still though she didn't know what to do. She was worn thin making sure there was food in the house half the time and water and electric the other half. She felt like a single mom, Even though her husband worked two jobs as well. His money all went to his debt. Gambling and taking out loans to do so. She had thought about leaving him many times. The guys who were owed money would just come after her and her son though. She fell back asleep until the alarm went off telling her she had to get up and get ready for work.

Naruto didn't have to wait to long before Iruka and Gaara showed up. Gaara ran right over to play with him. Naruto greeted him and the boy sat down, he held out a hand and Naruto took the prize inside. A small collection of pretty rocks, ones that seemed to have came from a fish tank.

"Awesome we can put them on the castle!" Naruto smiled as he put the rocks in a safe place before they began to dig in the sand.

Naruto's mom checked on the boy quickly before walking towards the bus stop. She smiled seeing her son had made a friend and gave a sigh of relief that he wasn't playing alone again. Soon he'd be in school, she wouldn't have to worry about him going to far off then and yet she did worry he'd get made fun of.

Naruto and Gaara played together fine, Naruto talking as Gaara listened and nodded or shook his head to what the boy said. Iruka watched the two of them and sighed. When he had told Kakashi about the boys playing Kakashi had seemed happy.

"_But he's a bad influence." Iruka had huffed._

"_He's a five year old child who has no friends." Kakashi smirked. "I doubt he's a bad influence. He is being judged by all the parents because of what he looks like on the outside. You Iruka are a teacher. You should know that kids need friends, other wise they may turn out to be bad influences. Besides Gaara may start talking to the boy, and you know you want him to start talking."_

Iruka noticed the boy coughing and getting paler. He frowned. Iruka watched a few minutes longer before walking over. "Hello, I'm Iruka."

"My names Naruto, sir." Naruto looked up and smiled. "Thanks for bringing Gaara to play."

"No problem. Are you feeling well? You look a little sick." Iruka placed a hand on Naruto's head. "And your burning up."

"I'm ok." Naruto shrugged. He had been sick before and had to ride it out. He got sick a lot in the winter. In the summer he usually didn't get sick at all.

"Does your mom know?" Iruka asked, he couldn't hide the frown as he thought about how neglectful the boys parents had to be.

"Well, mom had to work. I could tell my dad though." Naruto looked towards his house. His dad had been asleep on the couch. He'd rather tell his mom he was sick then wake his dad. Naruto knew he'd been working all day yesterday and all last night. The clock in his room had said 6 and then am when his dad came in. Naruto knew 6 was later then 3 and am meant the sun was just waking up.

"Oh, you live right there?" Iruka looked at the house. It was small and run down, but that wasn't why he frowned. If the boy lived there his parents could at least sit outside while he played. How lazy was his dad he couldn't even sit outside to ensure his baby was safe and having fun? At the thought Naruto's dad walked out the front door and turned the side of the house heading to the park. He smiled seeing his son play with another child.

"Naru!!" Minato called as he walked over. "Who's your friend?" His smile matched that of his son.

"This is Gaara and his dad Iruka." Naruto glanced at Gaara who shook his head. "Huh? He's not your dad?"

"No, I'm not. I'm his legal gardian though."

"Whats that?" Naruto asked, excited to find out something new.

"It means he's like Gaara's dad, but he's not. Kind of like if you were to go to Gaara's house you'd have to listen to Mr. Iruka like you listen to me. Only Gaara has to listen to him all the time." Minato smiled as his son thought then nodded his head. "I was coming to see if you were hungry? Would you like something to eat too, Gaara?"

"I am hungry." Naruto smiled "But I don't feel so well."

Gaara nodded his head and looked at Iruka who was not happy about Gaara eating anything from here.

"Then you shouldn't be playing." Minato frowned. "You'll get Gaara sick. Why don't you come inside and lay down. I'm sorry to take your playmate Gaara. You don't want to have to take medicane do you though?"

Gaara shook his head no.

"You two can play together when you feel better Naruto." Iruka promised.

"Ok." Naruto sighed, then looked at Gaara. "You want to keep the rocks for the top?"

Gaara shook his head no and swatted the castle they had started away. He gave a slight smile before standing up.


End file.
